


Spinel Short Stories

by SnekyDoodle



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Death, Gore, Self-Destruction, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Self-Mutilation, Shattering - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2020-12-07 14:02:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20977097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnekyDoodle/pseuds/SnekyDoodle
Summary: Warning! Some of these can get very violent.





	1. Breaking Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Steven didn’t summon his bubble shield in time.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.  
Why? Why didn’t he think fast enough?  
Why?  
Why didn’t he.. _do something_..?  
He felt his own blood pooling in dark puddles around him, mocking the former rainy days he’d love to play in while he was still an innocent child. Fire and silvery pink flames were lit in terrifyingly large quantities around him, licking at his torn, tattered body.  
He couldn’t force himself to look down at the damage. He knew that’d only make the pain worse. It felt like his intestines had been torn out, and maybe they had. The hybrid had, at the least, expected to be knocked unconscious and torn apart by his terrible the explosion had been.

He coughed, feeling thick, unwavering blood splatter up and litter the already bloody and dying ground with more crimson, metallic and thick liquid. His breathing came in struggled stutters while his vision forced itself to clear to the best of its abilities, his gaze staring dazed ahead.  
And then he saw it. The poor half-gem felt like his heart had stopped completely.  
It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair!  
The very gem he’d just tried to befriend was lying on her side, her chest heaving in unneeded breathing, limbs twitching, anything to keep her from dissipating her glitching form. The sight of her, all cut up and bruised, gashes tearing through her limp limbs and chest, wasn’t the only thing that was terrifying him so much.  
Gem shards. Pink, glittering, beautiful _gem shards_ littered the dying grass, glinting against the flames, looking so innocently evil.  
Spinel was _shattered_. He had just befriended Spinel, and she was _shattered. _The Pink gem was trying her hardest not to poof, and Steven could tell she was loosing.  
Spinel knew that if she poofed, she wasn’t going to come back. Steven knew if he fell asleep, there was a chance he wasn’t going to wake up.  
How twisted this had become, Steven dragging his body painfully towards the dying gem. He was trying his hardest, his pace slowed, yet eventually he made it at her limp side.  
“Sp-sp_inhh..” _He rasped, a bloodied hand moving weakly to lie on her side, rolling her over so he could at least see the damage.  
Steven felt his blood, hot and streaming, run terrifyingly cold.  
Her poor gem was in a spiderweb of cracks, pieces chipped and falling apart by the second.

Tears began streaming down his cheeks, landing lifelessly onto the gem below. His hope that it would heal her, at least a little, were cut short as nothing happened.  
A gloved hand met his wrist, tilting his head down he saw Spinel looking up at him with an awfully pained, agonized expression. Behind that, however, his terribly seeing eyes could just made out a strange sense of warmth.  
“Y_y_0-**ou.. d**on’..” the gem rasped, a cough and shiver racking her frame before she continued, almost like a sick old lady on a deathbed.  
“Don’.. s_a_v.. m_e.._. _I.. _don’ _wan’ l_iv n‘**ym**_o_re..”  
Distantly, Steven became aware of someone calling his name intensely, worry thick in their tone, but he seemed just not to care about that, looking down at the Spinel who’s eyes lost all agonized life in them.  
In a heartbreaking second, Spinel’s form gave out, a pink cloud of dust enveloping him while her gem clattered to the floor, chips and pieces thumping lifelessly around it.  
Steven’s vision finally blackened out, and he felt his eyes close while his body stopped forcing itself to sit up.  
He failed. He failed, and now he must pay the price.

Steven almost sobbed when he felt himself coming back to consciousness.  
He just hoped they wouldn’t ask too many questions about what happened with Spinel, and hopefully, _hopefully_, there was a chance they had managed to bring her back.


	2. Injured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Major Tw for extreme self-harm and self-mutilation
> 
> Hhh.. I wasn’t lying when i said they got dark, but if ya’ve read my Undertale books you’d know how I can get with.. this.

Panic.

They had left again, hadn’t they?

_Hadn’t they!?_

She didn’t want this, she didn’t _want _to be all alone. The pink gem so desperately wanted to be around them, to feel their presence, to bask in their adoring attention—

it was a mistake to take a break from the diamonds. They’d been to busy, though, how could she— go back!? Selfish, she was just a selfish, worthless, —nOTHING!

In frustration and agony, the mentally unstable Spinel began tugging at her ponytails, strands of her hair being torn mercilessly from her head, falling lifelessly to the ground beneath her. Pain shoe through her, yet the gem did nothing to stop herself.

Instead, her eyes began growing wide.

She could distinctively remember something _sharp_.. yes, yes! The Pearl and Steven had been using it, it was sharp and cut so perfectly and—

She just had to find it. She needed a way out of this mess, she— she needed it! The paranoia raging in her head tempted her further as her body slinkied it’s way into the kitchen, shaking hands searching wildly for the object in question she was so desperately craving.

And then Spinel found it, a beautiful, sharp-edged, silver cutting knife. Perfect— it was perfect. Perfect in ways she couldn’t even begin to imagine. Much better than her worthless self, haha!

At least the knife had a use. In Spinel’s mind, she had already convinced herself They he,s and left her. Just a simple mission, they’d said, yet she knew better.

In a swift motion Spinel sliced the knife over her arm, deranged giggles sounding out while watching it cut a clean slice of her arm open, her pink-tinted blood spilling in droplets to the floor.

It was such a welcoming, such a needed distraction. Spinel felt herself doing it again, the knife cutting deeper and deeper each time. Tears frothed in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks, yet she didn’t seem to notice, that or didn’t care. The knife was stained in her own blood, dripping to the ground below.

”You— are— useless!” She roared, her shaky hands slitting above her wrist, just behind her gloves, a strike of pain running through her entire being as if she’d just struck a sensitive nerve. Blood spilled more heavily, a broken sounding laugh ringing out throughout the silent household.

Spinel was finding it hard to see, her hands clenched into the knife she wasn’t beginning to realize was slipping out of her hold, twirling it before in haste, she sunk it deep into her chest, right below her gem.

A coward, wasn’t she a coward? She was too scared to strike her own gemstone, too afraid to end it all and just.. _shatter_. With wearing consciousness, she tugged the knife back out.

She could have sworn she heard a warp pad go off while the knife clattered uselessly to the floor, her body slumping back against the counter she was leaning on.

Everything hurt, her own blood was surrounding her. Spinel refused to let herself poof, struggling to keep her eyes open and keep her form steady.

“Spinel!? Wh-What are you doing!?”

The voice was clear as day, jerking her mind back up. Her eyes widened again, before initial agony set back in and she slumped back down.

Steven, it was always Steven, with the gems right behind. Spinel felt herself give a low, agonized chuckle and cough, feeling Steven wrap his solid, warm arms around her. Her consciousness finally wore off, passing out in Steven’s grip.

They came back.

This was gonna take a long time to fix, wasn’t it?


	3. Maybe She Should Have Chosen Another Restaurant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilac belongs to me, the Spinel working there belongs to a friend uwu  
They’re Oc’s

The Quartz Soilder sighed, her clawed fingers tapping against the smooth table she sat at in the.. Olive Garden, was it? Sure, gems didn’t _need _to eat, but it was a habit she had picked up not long after Amethyst entered the Crystal Gem’s life.  
She had been thinking again, about _her_. It had been thousands of years, yet she still felt like it had just happened. That her little Spinel had just been _shattered_, her gem lying broken, in pieces in the battlefield. Rose had tried to heal her, but the damage had been too much.  
Since then she’d kept her friend’s shards in a little box, locked tight with the key stored safely in her gem, so no one would ever be able to see the shattered pieces. She’d keep it in there until they found a way to cure her, until.. maybe she would be back.

“May I take your order, ma’am?” A voice cut into the sorrowful gem’s thoughts, her head snapping up to see—  
Oh. Just perfect. Another Spinel.  
The Quartz looked down, rubbing her eyes for a moment. She looked at the box in front of her, took it in a hand, and rubbed it. “Just some.. pasta with Parmesan? If that’s ok?” She murmured, looking up to the Spinel.  
The Spinel just narrowed her eyes, nodding. “Huh. Ya don’t seem ver’ happy.” She stated blankly. The Quartz bristled for a moment, then looked down, cautiously holding her box close to her. “Don’t mention it. I’m.. _fine_.”  
Hearing the Spinel give a small chuckle sent a pang through her. It was low, and quiet, _just like her_. “Ya seem to like that box, don’tcha? Wha’s ya name?”  
She couldn’t hold back a flinch at that one. “.. Lilac.” The Quartz, now known as Lilac, murmured carefully. “It’s.. personal.”  
“Eh, don’t really care.” The Spinel muttered, scribbling something down on a small notepad. Lilac’s eyes drooped down like a sad dog, stroking the top of the box.  
“Well. I’ll have your order whenever it’s ready. Does the box need a meal too?”

Maybe Lilac should have chosen another restaurant.


	4. Wonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Spinel came to destroy Earth, Steven’s been having some thoughts.

Sometimes, Steven wondered just how deep his mother’s mistakes really run.   
At times he found himself wondering if Spinel was the last gem he’d find out his mother had hurt, the uncertainty that coursed through him at these thoughts scared him. Spinel turned up out of the blue, unexpectedly, and nearly murdered him and his family along with his entire planet and every living organism on it. And it was all his mothers fault.

How many more gems did she hurt, that Steven had no idea existed? How many more gems like Spinel were out there, if even just one? He’d asked Pearl, yet the pale gem couldn’t recall anymore gems that Pink Diamond knew who hadn’t followed her, or hadn’t been _accepted_ by her, to join her on her new colony.

It seemed Spinel was the last one, that’s what he told himself at least, that’s what seemed most likely.

And Spinel. Precious, sweet, loving Spinel. What his own mom had forced her to endure sickened him every time he thought back on his time with a Spinel in the garden, seeing her break down at the little memories of her and her Diamonds, hearing her sing of how she doubted even herself while waited for her best friend to come back.

He would never see his mom the same way again. _Never_, and he knew that.

Steven rubbed his eyes, distracting himself from his thoughts. He didn’t feel like thinking about Pink’s mistakes right now, especially not with the gem who had just been trying to murder him and his planet a few weeks prior.

He still didn’t know how to feel about her leaving with the Diamonds, but from the calls with the Diamonds, he could tell she was rather happy where she was, and quickly had realized - despite what he’d originally thought - that her going with the Diamonds was one of the best decision for her.

Stretching his legs, he yawned and forced himself to his feet. Might as well try to relax, perhaps taking a shower would be nice..  
  
  


Maybe taking a shower hadn’t been the best option. _Shower thoughts, _the hybrid thought to himself, _of course, you always think more in the shower.._

He couldn’t stop. Gazing down to the pink gem imbedded in his stomach, Steven felt his heart drop. “You..” he whispered, the warm water running over him. “How could you.. _do that_?”

His gem gave no answer, _Pink’s gem, Rose’s gem, _gave no answer. Of course it wouldn’t, the gems themselves never spoke. Well, unless you count that one time while Pearl was reforming after she got rejuvenated, though.. was that even her gem?

Rejuvenation. Rejuvenator. Now he was thinking about Spinel again. Not only Spinel, but the trauma she had endured, her mentality, _her_. Right when Spinel had arrived on Earth, Steven had the awful feeling something was terribly _wrong_ with her. With the way she moved, sang, acted, talked..

Steven had just assumed she was insane. Not all there in the head.

He didn’t hate her though, before he figured out what happened to her, of course not. He wasn’t going to hate someone for being mentally ill. Though, he did feel a twinge of guilt. He sometimes wished Spinel was just some mentally unstable gem, and not another byproduct of his mother’s awful mistakes, just some unhinged gem who had no reason for her destruction other than her own madness. It was a terrible thought, he knew, but Steven couldn’t push it away.

And it was all his mother’s fault again. Pink Diamond had driven Spinel to the point of near insanity, no, she _had driven her insane_. The way Spinel had acted upon first arriving to Earth was an obvious indicator that something had popped loose in her head, and Steven had already realized being rejuvenated and feeling her old self again had managed to bring back some of the torn shreds of sanity back to her.

Steven’s stomach dropped. Sudden remorse and sympathy filled him for the pink gem. He wondered just how much those wounds stung, just how deep those scars really dug. Those scars that weren’t even healed, open, bleeding and infected for all eyes to see.

Steven knew it was a dark metaphor, but it was true. Sighing, he hopped out of the shower, twisting the knob to turn the tap off, then grabbed his towel and wrapped it around himself.

He was quick to clean off all the water and get himself dressed, and before he knew it he was on the couch. 

Those thoughts that plagued him. They just wouldn’t go away. They wouldn’t go away just like the blame for his mother’s past actions, past mistakes, past words, would never go away.

_Why won’t they just leave me alone?  
_


End file.
